National Running Day

June 3, 2009

New York Road Runners celebrated the inaugural National Running Day with events throughout NYC, including a fun children’s track and field day at Icahn Stadium and group runs in city parks. The NYRR Foundation Young Professionals Committee and Team for Kids held a fun run and happy hour. National Running Day, an initiative of many of the major U.S. running organizations, seeks to promote running as a healthy, easy, and accessible form of exercise.
About 1,000 kids took part in the NYRR Foundation Mighty Milers Fun Run/Walk at Icahn Stadium.	Three-time U.S. Olympian Deena Kastor participated in the warm-up exercises.	The kids took off for races of a half-mile and a mile on the very fast track.	Crossing a finish line after running hard is a great feeling. Kastor knows it well.
The kids covered the 400-meter track in a fast-moving yellow wave.	Activities included an obstacle course with challenges like this though-the-hoop segment (easier when you’re three feet tall)…	…and this zigzag-running section. The kids seem to have disproved the “no pain, no gain” theory.	Tug-of-war was one of the few activities that didn’t involve running.
A group run convened at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza, near Prospect Park.	Running in a group at an easy pace is a very enjoyable way to get healthy and fit.	Running stations in all five boroughs dispensed water and Gatorade to all comers.	An NYRR Foundation Young Runners event took place in Prospect Park.
Deena Kastor and NYRR president and CEO Mary Wittenberg met a good-sized crowd at Engineers’ Gate in Central Park for a group run.	As Kastor answered questions from fans, both the East 90th Street Runner Station and the sky dispensed water.	Kastor plans to run the NYRR New York Mini 10K on Sunday, June 7. She won the race in 2004.	When the going gets wet, the runners get going. No spirits were dampened on National Running Day.
NYRRF staff and volunteers checked in runners for the YPC/Team for Kids fun run.	One of Central Park’s arched bridges protected runners from the rain while they stretched.	Braving the puddles, dozens of runners started their run.	This pair celebrated the run’s completion.
Runners gathered at Jake’s Dilemma on the Upper West Side to toast National Running Day.	Most attendees have run with TFK or are involved with the YPC.	Both groups generously work to raise money for kids’ running programs.	Meredythe Ryan is a former TFK member; Rick Allison came along to support this special day.